The present invention relates to pumping and dispensing systems and, more particularly, to an improved apparatus and method for dispensing syrup such as that used in carbonated beverages.
As is well known, a variety of beverages are marketed to retail consumers by dispensing systems which simultaneously deliver a metered quantity of flavored syrup with a proportional quantity of carbonated water or the like. For sanitation and economy concerns, the beverage industry has recently begun supplying these flavored syrups in collapsible bag/box containers which are adapted to be connected to suitable prior art dispensing systems.
The majority of the prior art dispensing systems have utilized a low flow rate pump for drawing the syrup from the bag container and supplying a metered quantity of the syrup to a mixing nozzle. The use of such low flow rate pumps has been advantageous for system reliability concerns as well as due to such syrups being highly concentrated and thereby being mixed with relatively large volumes of carbonated water and the like. Although such prior art dispensing systems have proven generally suitable for their intended purpose, they have possessed inherent deficiencies which have detracted from their overall effectiveness in the trade.
Foremost of these deficiencies has been the inability of the prior art dispensing systems to eliminate the ingestion of air into the pump of the dispensing system, which air ingestion typically occurs upon encountering a syrup depletion condition within the syrup bag container. As will be recognized, air ingestion into the dispensing system necessarily introduces inaccuracy in the quantity of dispensed syrup and thus adversely affects the quality of the resultant beverage; and in extreme instances, causes overheating and permanent damage to the pump of the dispensing system. Although these air ingestion deficiencies have been recognized to a limited extent in the art, the solutions to date have typically been ineffective.
In addition, the prior art dispensing systems have heretofore failed to provide suitable means to permit the rapid replacement of spent syrup bag containers into the system. As such, operators have heretofore typically been required to either temporarily discontinue the dispensing operation when replacing bag containers or have been required to connect multiple syrup bags in a series flow configuration in an attempt to alleviate the occurrence of a syrup depletion condition. Such temporary discontinuance of the dispensing operation has necessarily been economically inconvenient to operators and further increases the chances of ingesting air into the system. In addition, the series flow connection techniques prevent the complete turnover of fresh syrup inventory in that one of the syrup bags in the series connection never completely depletes its entire quantity of syrup.
Thus, there exists a substantial need in the art for an improved apparatus and method for dispensing syrup which utilizes a low flow rate pump suited for proper dispensing of syrup through a nozzle, eliminates air ingestion into the dispensing system, and permits multiple syrup bag/box containers to be completely utilized and replaced without temporary discontinuance of the dispensing operation.